The elephant house: herds, feet, food and the mouse myth
Tests: 4 of 11 right · Exam: 4 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 7 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 83 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.
Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.
Test 1 · right ✓
In a cartoon an elephant screams and climbs on a chair when a mouse runs in. What would you fix?
- 1. Elephants chase and eat mice instead — score 3
- 2. Right, mice are an elephant's worst fear, everyone knows that — no support
- 3. Right, elephants faint when they see mice — score 3
- 4. A real elephant may step aside, but is not afraid of mice — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 9, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 83, line 4: «And the mouse? In cartoons an elephant shrieks and jumps on a stool when a mouse runs past, but real elephants are not afraid of mice; they may just step aside…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «step» (+4); the same doer «elephants» (+4); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · wrong ✗
4 elephants in the house. how many trunks and how many ears altogether
- 1. 16 trunks and 8 ears — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 8 trunks and 4 ears — no support
- 3. 4 trunks and 8 ears — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. 4 trunks and 4 ears — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 3 · wrong ✗
«just put 'em on concrete, way easier to hose down» What would happen?
- 1. Nothing, elephants' feet are as hard as iron and never hurt — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Their feet and joints would get sore over the years — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. They would walk faster and be happier — no support
- 4. Their toenails would fall off at once — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 4 · right ✓
Dumbo flies by flapping his huge ears. What do real elephant ears do?
- 1. Let African elephants glide short distances from hill to hill — no support
- 2. Nothing, the ears are just for show — no support
- 3. Help them hear and lose heat, but cannot lift them — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 4. Only help them swim — no support
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 50, line 11: «Elephants make deep rumbles, many too low for us to hear, called infrasound, which carry several kilometres and may be felt through their feet and trunk; an el…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «listen» (+2); the same doer «ears» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 5 · wrong ✗
«why's the grandma in charge, the big bull's way stronger» What is right?
- 1. The bull is too lazy to lead, so he lets the grandma do all the work — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The keepers make her the leader — no support
- 3. Grandmothers are the fastest runners — no support
- 4. She remembers where water and food are and what is dangerous — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · right ✓
What would happen to elephant numbers if many adults were killed?
- 1. They would recover very slowly, as each baby takes years — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Nothing, elephants have dozens of babies a year — no support
- 3. They would recover in a single season, as elephants breed fast — no support
- 4. The babies would grow up faster to fill the gap — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · wrong ✗
A herd has 3 mothers, 2 aunts and 4 calves. How many legs are there in the herd?
- 1. 40 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 32 — no support
- 3. 36 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. 9 — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · right ✓
«elephant poo's just rubbish, yeah?» What does the zoo do with it?
- 1. Tips it into the sea in big lorries — no support
- 2. Turns it into compost for gardens — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 3. Burns it to heat the elephant house — no support
- 4. Gives it back to the elephants to eat — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 83, line 11: «Many zoos turn elephant dung into compost for gardens, and in some countries it is even made into paper.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «compost» (+3); the same action «turn» (+2). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · wrong ✗
You feel a deep shaking through the floor but hear almost nothing. What could it be?
- 1. The elephants snoring in their sleep — no support
- 2. A tiger roaring next door — ← Mova's choice · score 8
- 3. An earthquake caused by elephant footsteps on the hard ground — no support
- 4. An elephant rumbling too low for us to hear well — ✓ the right answer · score 4
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 8, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 81, line 7: «A lion's roar can be heard up to about 8 kilometres away; only the lion, tiger, leopard and jaguar can truly roar.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «roar» (+4); the same doer «lion» (+4). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · wrong ✗
Which is true about the elephant you see swimming with only the tip of its trunk out?
- 1. It is smelling the water for fish to eat — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It is drowning and needs help — no support
- 3. It is drinking the whole pool — no support
- 4. It breathes through the trunk like a snorkel — ✓ the right answer · no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · wrong ✗
An elephant with small ears and a rounded back is in front of you. Which kind is it most likely?
- 1. A small woolly mammoth — no support
- 2. An African savanna elephant — ← Mova's choice · score 5
- 3. An African forest elephant with giant ears — score 5
- 4. An Asian elephant — ✓ the right answer · score 5
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 83, line 13: «An elephant's ears help it hear and lose heat, but cannot lift it; African elephants have huge ears and two «fingers» at the trunk tip; Asian elephants have sm…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+3); the same doer «african elephants» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the principal function of the matriarch within an elephant herd.
- 1. She retains knowledge of food, water and dangers — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. She defends the herd against bulls by fighting them — no support
- 3. She hunts on behalf of the herd — no support
- 4. She bears all of the herd's offspring — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the reaction of elephants to mice.
- 1. Elephants experience acute terror in the presence of mice — score 3
- 2. Elephants regularly prey upon mice — no support
- 3. Mice are known to enter the trunk and suffocate elephants — no support
- 4. Elephants may be startled by sudden movement near their feet — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 83, line 6: «Elephants are not afraid of mice; they cannot see well right by their feet, so a sudden movement there can startle them, but terror is a cartoon joke.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «startle» (+2); the same doer «sudden movement» (+2); the same thing acted on «elephants» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Determine the principal reason for which modern elephant houses are furnished with deep sand floors.
- 1. Standing upon concrete injures the feet and joints of so heavy an animal — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
- 2. Concrete is prohibited by law in all zoological collections of the world — no support
- 3. Sand is consumed by elephants as a dietary supplement — no support
- 4. Sand prevents elephants from swimming — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 83, line 7: «Modern elephant houses have deep sand and heated floors, because years on hard concrete hurt elephants' feet and joints.», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «hurt» (+2); the same thing acted on «feet» (+2). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓
It is given that the gestation of the elephant is the longest of any land animal. State its approximate duration.
- 1. Twenty-two months — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Five years — no support
- 3. Two months — no support
- 4. Nine months — no support
Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/83-elephant-house-herds-feet-food-mouse-myth/